Well, I've started tinkering. And I'm pondering a story line. And I'm exploring how to get things working in mod-land. It's not trivial, that much is clear. But it's all a matter of getting used to the rules.

On that note, I was wondering if there was a more comprehensive instruction or guide to modding around. I found the one over at thenextgame.co.uk. It's quite good and has helped me get my feet under me, so to speak. But it certainly seems to be essentially and introduction to modding, not a comprehensive guide.

For example, I noticed over in the "New Modding Features" thread, there is mention of being able to code for different team colors.

Icepick wrote:... - Team information can now be extracted to a text file. You can use the text file to specify the team colour, alliances between teams, and the Player team. See http://the-icebox.com/Darwinia/screenshot3.jpg for an example of this with 4 (randomly) coloured teams. An example of the file format for the main game would be:

But, for the life of me, I can't see exactly how to do this. And this is just one example. I'm reading about new features of modding, but I don't see anywhere any explanation of how to actually use these new features.

Assuming that you are reading The_Goldfish's guide at thenextgame, that is basically the best, most comprehensive guide that exists. As to the "New Mod Features" thread, basically none of the features in that thread actually appear in the game. Those features are part of a project that Icepick was working on, but which never really saw the light of day.

The best way to get into modding is to experiment, see what works, and read and post here when things break.